1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding seat for use in a car, which can be folded for the space over the rear of the seat back to add to the existing internal space, thereby increasing the capacity of baggage loading, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a folding seat used in a car like a wagon car, camping car, etc. essentially comprises a base frame to be installed to the floor of a car body, a seat cushion, a seat back, and a head rest, and is designed to be foldable. In the normal use of the folding seat, the base frame supports the seat cushion in a flat position and the seat back in an oblique standing position. For using the seat in a folded configuration, the seat cushion is turned or swung forward about the forward end thereof to upright position from the base frame, the seat back is tilted down forward about the lower end thereof, and then the head rest is removed from the seat back.
However, the folding seat of this type has no special space for receiving the head rest having been removed from the seat back. Normally, the removed head rest is to be placed in a side pocket of the car body or any other vacant space in the car. For reinstallation to the seat back during reassembling of the seat, the head rest should be brought back into place from such a separate place, which will be troublesome. In the case of a car having a plurality of such folding seats provided therein, the head rests once thus removed should be identified from each other so that they will not be returned to wrong seats, which will be a further annoyance.
Accordingly, it has been desired to provide a folding seat of which the whole including a head rest can be folded compactly into a single folded configuration and the head rest can be kept together with other seat components in a same place after folding. In the case of a prior-art folding seat, it is not any rare case that such a head rest removed from the seat back is merely placed flat on the seat back. However, the head rest thus placed will easily fall down from on the seat back due to vibrations while the car is running, and also interfere with effective use of the internal space over the rear of the seat back for baggage loading or other purposes.
Folding a car seat as a whole into a single compact configuration may be attained by turning forward the seat cushion to upright position, tilting down the seat back forward, and inserting the supporting stay of the head rest between the bottom of the seat cushion and the top of the seat back to erect the head rest body. However, if the head rest is retained in this manner, the weight of the head rest in addition to a shock exerted to the seat cushion when the car is stopped will cause the seat cushion to easily be turned further forward, with a result that the compactness of the folded seat configuration will possibly be lost.